Interview: 18-Year Old Oakland Rapper Jwalt Discusses Creating His Own Legacy in Hip-Hop

It’s not often that you hear a teenaged rapper nowadays and compare his style to the likes of Big L and E-40. Many younger artists these days are forging their own paths or succumbing to mainstream and radio trends, although inspired by artists of the past. How do you take your inspirations and see them through when creating your own music, to continue hip hop’s legacy?

When creating my own music I'm really just inspired by what's around me; whether that’d be my family, my city, a particular song, nature, or an artist, I take whatever inspires me and just start writing about it through bars and lyricism which I think is one of the most important parts of hip-hop.

On your IG, there’s shots of you with the new iconic faces of hip hop like Dave East, and Logic. Who are some of the other contemporary greats in rap that inspire you, and even that you hope to one day collab with on tracks?

J. Cole is probably one of my biggest inspirations and is someone I would love to do a track with. I would also love to collaborate with Kendrick, Drake, Jhene Aiko, Joey Badass, Rapsody, YG, YBN Cordae, Roddy Ricch, and Griselda. These are some of the artists that inspire me today and are some who I would love to work with.

At what age did you start putting out your work, and how did your story as a musician start? Do you ever deal with any ageism in the industry, due to the fact that you’re fresh out of high school?

I started putting out music when I was 11 years old but didn't start taking it seriously until I was a freshman in high school, so probably around 14.

As I've started gaining more recognition and attention in the music industry I would say I've most definitely faced ageism. There’s been a lot of people who assume I don't know much or think that I'm not as seasoned, but as soon as they hear me spit their perspectives change.

You slow your style down for the horn-infused “Girl of My Dreams” feat. Richie which has some r&b influences like The Dream. What other genres do you like to integrate and play with when you’re creating?

R&B, jazz, and neo soul for sure. I grew up listening to a lot of these genres, so I like to incorporate them into music whenever I can.

“Fade Away” and “The Kid” are two of our favorite tracks on this album - can you tell us about the creative process through making it, and tell us more about the fire production that backs these tracks up?

Both of these tracks were produced by DJ. Toure who is a part of the hip-hop group Hieroglyphics. The process to both of these songs are pretty similar. I told Toure what type of sound I was looking for, he started cooking up, and then I began writing.

Once I heard the beats I automatically knew what I wanted to talk about so then I started to go to write and tell my stories.

We know you’ve already surpassed the dreams of many by sharing a stage with Wu Tang and Nas. Who are some artists that you’ve opened up for, and who do you have dreams of headlining with in the future? Additionally, who would your dream cypher be made up of?

I’ve opened up for T-Pain, Black Thought, Jerimiah, Saweetie, Dave East, Too Short, Talib Kweli, E-40, G-Eazy, and Kamaiyah.

In the future I would love to headline shows with my homies who are also coming up. That’s the dream for sure.

To answer the last question my dream cypher would probably be made up of me, Black Thought, Royce the 5’9 and King Los. All great spitters. That would be crazy.

Connect with Jwalt: Instagram